TOPICS IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

BA 447 FALL 2006

(NOTE: The Schedule below was changed October 3, 2006.)

Lecture Slides/Materials

Professor: Manolete V. Gonzalez, Phd Email: gonzalezm@bus.oregonstate.edu

Office: B 224B

Office hours: M 3:00-4:00pm; T 4:00-5:00pm; W 12:00-1:00pm

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The objective of this course is to investigate selected topics in International Business with the end in view of providing an understanding of “unique problems, characteristics, and demands” on a multinational enterprise. Because the list of issues can be potentially long, we will identify a limited set of issues and attempt to study them well. The course will be investigative in approach, with the intent of encouraging students to continue to learn beyond this course; we will also investigate these from the perspective of strategic and operational decisions that multinational enterprises face.

In terms of learning outcomes, at the end of this course, students must demonstrate:

1) An awareness of strategic issues that can affect a multinational enterprise;

2) Capacity to investigate one such issue in its complexity;

3) And to determine the impact of these issues on a particular multinational enterprise.

The structure of this course is designed to allow investigation. We will start with Thomas Friedman’s book, for no other reason than it is current and it provides a reasonably cohesive framework within which to understand how global business is evolving. We will use our discussion of this book to define an initial list of issues for further study. I have added a few other issues that I believe are relevant. We will investigate these issues through a process of readings and discussion; in most cases I will provide the initial material, in all cases, I would like students to surprise me by suggesting material that are relevant and useful. See the comment on Readings below.

REQUIREMENTS

Text: The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman

Readings: Foreign Affairs, Economist, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Asian Wall Street Journal, New York Times and similar publications; websites of reputable/known organizations such as the World Bank, and links in the schedule.

Students are expected to read the assigned chapters of the text and contents of website indicated in the schedule below. They should also regularly scan the headlines of the publications under Readings and read the articles that interest you and which you think relate to topics covered in this class. If a student does not subscribe to these publications, he or she can go to the library and go over issues published this year.

REQUIREMENTS AND GRADES

There will be no midterm and final exams for this course. Because of the nature of the course, and the topics we will cover, the requirements below are intended to encourage active participation in the investigation of these topics. Students are expected to prepare for class by reading the assigned material early enough to do some personal investigation. In this manner, it is hoped the student can contribute to the discussion.

QUIZZES AND ASSIGNMENTS

There will be graded quizzes through the term. Two heavier weighted quizzes will be announced (check footnote on schedule); all other quizzes will not be announced. There will be no make-ups for quizzes missed.

Each student should turn in at least five assignments. These assignments will consist of an article from those suggested under the Readings section above and a short statement. Choosing from any five of the days marked on the class schedule (check the footnotes on the schedule), each student should bring a copy of an article that is related to the chapter(s) or subject matter assigned for the day or the two day sequence. The article should be accompanied by a typed, half page report, summarizing the article and stating what was interesting.

TERM PROJECT

A term project will be required and will form the major portion of a student’s grade. The requirements for this term project are described below. Each student will work with a group of 4 in fulfilling this requirement. The term project will consist of a written report and a presentation. This will be described in a separate document.

GROUPS

I will break up the class into groups of three or four early in the term. I will require each group to establish expectations/criteria covering contribution of each member to the group’s deliverables early in the term; a peer evaluation will be submitted at the same time the term project is due. These peer evaluations will be considered in determining the term project grade of each member.

GRADE DISTRIBUTION

The following will provide the basis for a students grade:

Weight

Quizzes 30%

Assignments 10%

Participation 10%

Term Project 50%

ba 447 SPRING 2006 gonzalez (changed Oct 3, 2006)

Subject to change. Changes will be announced in class and a revised version of this schedule will be posted.

Day	Topic (Ch # refers to Friedman book)
09/26	Introduction to the course; course requirements. Major issues facing multinational companies. Understanding global nature of companies
09/28	How the World Became Flat Ch 1: While I Was Sleeping
10/03	Ch 2: The 10 Forces that Flattened the World Ch 3: The Triple Convergence FINALIZE GROUPS DISCUSS TERM PROJECT
10/05 b	Show Inconvenient Truth Discuss implications on global business
10/10 a, b	Ch 4: The Great Sorting Out Ch 10: How Companies Cope DISCUSS ISSUES PORTION OF TERM PROJECT
10/12 b	Developing Countries and the Flat World Ch 9: The Virgin of Guadalupe
10/17 b	- Continue with Ch 9: Other “Outsourcing” Countries
10/19 b	Geopolitics and the Flat World Ch 11: The Unflat World Ch 12: The Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention
10/24 b	Governance. Ch 11 raises issues regarding globalization that are significant: poverty alleviation in the form of fighting disease and also enabling the marginalized; globalization, pros, cons, how; religious and ideological conflicts (which we sometimes conveniently sweep under the label “terrorism”). Ch 12 deals with how economic imperatives sometimes override political conflict. Scan for relevant material and lets discuss.
10/26 b	Corruption. Corruption is the absence of or weak governance. This is referred to in Ch 11, but I want to spend a separate session on this. Reading on the SAUD family <http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200305/baer>; also scan World Bank site (TBA)
10/31	WTO – general introduction Reading material: <http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/whatis_e.htm>
11/02 b	WTO – issues
11/07	Environment/ Thinking about the future Scan Readings (see above) on following topics: energy, resource shortages, global warming, international efforts towards sustainable development, etc.
11/09 b	Environment . . . – continued
11/14	NOTE – use this week to finalize your term projects. I will be available during the usual class times for this week for consultations.
11/16	see NOTE
11/21 a, b	America and the Flat World Ch 5, 6, 7 & 8 Scan Readings (see above) on ethical issues surrounding Wal-Mart
11/23	THANKSGIVING
11/28	Presentations
11/30	Presentations Wrap-up Term projects due 5pm

Footnotes:

a. Expect a long quiz on these two days (up to 10% of grade each.) A change in schedule for either of these two days will be announced at least a week early and posted on this schedule. All other quizzes will not be announced.

b. You will need to turn in 5 assignments. You may choose to turn in an assignment on any five of these days (each will be worth 2% of grade.)